


Notes

by wildflowerknope



Category: Parks and Recreation, parks and rec
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Pen Pals
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:41:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26132836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildflowerknope/pseuds/wildflowerknope
Summary: Ben writes on a school desk. Leslie is fed up with vandalism. They become pen pals, but they don't even know it.
Relationships: Leslie Knope/Ben Wyatt
Comments: 11
Kudos: 21





	Notes

**Author's Note:**

> hi everyone! this is my first fic i've ever written, so it probably isn't the best. if you have any constructive criticism, it is very appreciated. thank you for reading and i hope you enjoy!

Ben walked down the hallway to his first class of the day, Math. While he usually enjoys solving equations, his math teacher, Ms. Marten, made it difficult. She would drone on forever if given the opportunity. It didn’t help that she didn’t enjoy the constant tapping of Ben’s pen against the desk. Ben shut his locker and grimaced at the thought of spending another second with her. Somehow he had gotten stuck with Marten for another year. As if he hadn’t been tortured enough. 

Making his way down the busy hallway, he heard a yell behind him. “Ben! Ben!“ Andy shouted, pushing through the sea of students to reach him. “Hey man, are you going to Tom’s party tomorrow night? It’s at Jean-Ralphio’s house, so it’s supposed to be epic!” 

Andy was on the football team, and was quite popular. He wasn’t necessarily good at the sport, but his lovable personality made up for it. He was dating April Ludgate, who scared the shit out of Ben. He’d known her since middle school and had never seen her smile. Andy was in Ben’s homeroom, and while they weren’t super close, it was nice to have someone to talk to. 

“I don’t know. I have a Human Geography test on Monday. I don’t want to fail it.” 

“Duuude, it’s going to be awesome! You can skip your Geometry studying.”

“I said Geography. Were you listening to me?” Ben asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Look, what’s going to be more fun? Studying or making out with some hot chick and getting free booze? I think I can guess.”

“Okay, and which will help my GPA? I don’t think it’s the party.”

Andy let out a small whine and stopped walking, causing serious hallway traffic. “Ben, I have never seen you do something fun!”

“Yes you have. Watching-“ 

“No, watching that stupid space movie isn’t fun.”

“If you watched one maybe you’d see!”

“When you talk about those, all I hear is blah blah blah. Come to this one party. If you hate it I won’t mention another.” 

Ben sighed, fully knowing Andy would not fulfill his side of the bargain. Well, the least he can do is get him off his back. “Okay, fine. But listen, you cannot force me to stay there. If I want to go, I’ll leave.”

“Deal!” Andy pumped his fist in the air, then seemed to remember he had a class to go to. “Crap. I have to get to science. Don’t think I’ll forget you agreed to this!” After that he ran off in the opposite direction, pushing multiple people out of his way.

Slightly sighing, Ben planned his weekend. Goodbye Game of Thrones rewatch. Hello, party where he’d inevitably be standing alone. Not paying attention to where he was walking, he bumped into a smaller figure, sending books and pencils flying.

“Jesus! I’m so sorry.” He looked down to see a mess of blonde hair. A mess of blonde hair that belonged to a certain opponent of Ben’s. 

Leslie Knope was in Model UN with Ben. Last year they both decided to run for the last spot on the Security Council. Between Ben’s competitiveness and Leslie’s stubbornness, it was designed to fail. Neither of them won, instead Chris Traeger took the seat. Ben believed it was Chris’ kindness and drive that won him the chair, while Leslie believed she would have won if it weren’t for the division of votes between her and Ben. In summary, neither got what they wanted, and they both left the conference with hatred burning in them.

Leslie looked up at him, audibly groaned and said “God, Wyatt. Watch where you’re going.”

“That goes for you too, Leslie.” He replied, running a hand through his hair for the fiftieth time that day. “I’m not going to fight about this.” After that, Ben proceeded to walk away, leaving her on the ground, picking up her supplies.

…

Thirty minutes into the mumbling from Ms. Marten and Ben was ready to pass out. How could a human be so boring? He looked over at Mona Lisa who was chewing her gum obnoxiously. How the hell did she get into an honors math class? 

Maybe it was the pure boredom he felt, but at some point he started to doodle on the desk. First, it was just little scribbles, then it grew into him writing “SAVE ME” in scraggly letters. 

Ben jumped slightly at the sound of the bell, a heavy breath leaving his body. Thank god. If he were in there any longer he may have shriveled up and turned into flames.

…

Leslie walked into her 6th hour math class. Ms. Marten was a sweet lady. She could be harsh at times, but all she needed was a fruit basket and then you’re good to go! 

The blonde walked to her seat and sat down. While waiting for the bell to ring, she set out all of her papers and organized her gel pens by color. 

As she did this, a ring of scribbles caught her eye. Her fingers moved over the “Save me” written in shaky handwriting and groaned. It was really scratched in there.

How could someone do that? Just vandalise and not give it another thought! This is school property, and Leslie was 99% sure that the faculty that purchased this desk were not okay with it being used like this! 

Ms. Marten walked in and announced the subject of the day. Leslies attention turned to the front, but her brain continued to focus on the note. It was such a small thing, but somehow it meant a lot to her.

By the end of class Leslie had written a message on a post-it note and left it on the doodle. 

…

The next day, Ben walked into his math class with a scowl on his face. Something about that day put him in a bad mood. 

He sat at his desk and his eyes immediately were drawn to the neon yellow post-it left for him. 

It read: 

“This desk is school property! Don’t use it to make pointless doodles. This isn’t yours, so don’t draw on it. Thank you.  
PS. Save you? From what?”

After reading it for the third time, Ben chuckled lightly. This was the most ridiculous thing he had ever read. He couldn’t believe someone cared that deeply about what was written on a public school desk.

While Leslie saw this as a way to help prevent school property from being drawn on, Ben saw it as a cure for his boredom. 

Instead of leaving a response on the post-it, he decided to fuel the fire and engrave it onto the desk. 

Once he finished, he got another look at it and chuckled. This beats productivity. 

…

Leslie entered the loud lunchroom and looked around for the stunning flower that was Ann Perkins. After a couple of seconds she found her. Someone with that much beauty is not hard to spot.

Walking over Leslie realized there was a guest in the lunch group. Ben Wyatt. What the hell was he doing there? 

Each second without an explanation her anger grew. She stomped over to the table and said the first thing in her brain, “What the hell is HE doing here?”

Ann rubbed her forehead, April let a small smirk grin, Andy had a confused look on his face, and Ben just rolled his eyes. 

“Jesus Christ, Leslie. Am I not allowed to have friends now?” 

“No, Ben. But these are MY friends. Not yours. We don’t want you here.”

Hurt quickly crossed Ben’s face, but left as fast as it came. “Andy invited me and I accepted. I’m not trying to ‘steal’ your friends.”

“Aw, Leslie I thought you’d be cool with it!” Andy replied giving Leslie puppy eyes.

“Whatever. Just know I’m not eating with a dream crusher.” With that, she dramatically walked away, Ann following her. 

Finding two empty seats, Leslie set her lunch tray down with a grunt. “Ann! How could they let him sit there? He’s so horrible. How do they not want to gauge their eyeballs out just looking at him? He’s so terrible. Oh, Ann.”

Raising her eyebrow and slightly scooting away from Leslie, Ann said, “Leslie, he really isn’t that bad.”

“Yes he is! He ruined my dreams. I wanted to be on the Security Council for so long. And his competition made me lose it! If it weren’t for him I would have that seat.”

“I know you think he ruined everything. But he’s a genuinely nice guy. Give him a chance.”

“He’s the spawn of satan.”

“Leslie… Just don’t start an argument once. Maybe without the fighting you could get to know him and who knows, maybe even like him!” 

“Ugh. Fine” Leslie mumbled.

“What was that?”

“I said fine.”

“Good. Now eat your sandwich.”

…

Leslie trudged into Marten’s room. She had been in a bad mood since lunch, and it wasn’t hard to tell that it was because of Ben. How could her friends just let him come and sit with them like that? They know he took away the thing she had worked so hard on for over a year. He ruined her life.

It wasn’t like Leslie to be so negative. But Ben somehow changed that in her. Every little thing he did could make her furious. 

She sat down quietly, and noticed another scribble of words left by the spot her note was placed. Oh god. Of course an idiot would leave another message on the table. She shook her head and took out her pencil.

…

Ben was driving home after school when his phone started to ring. He quickly glanced over at it and saw it was April calling. What?

“Uh, hey April. Whats up?”

A high pitched voice responded, “Ben!”

“What?”

In a much deeper voice the caller said, “HA! Got you, man! It’s Andy. I lost my phone and I was wondering if you saw it anywhere?”

“Where would I have seen it?” Ben asked, confusion taking over his face. 

“Good point. Also, don’t think I forgot about the party tonight! You’re gonna be there, right?”

“Andy, I’ve kind of had a shitty day. I’m not really feeling a party.”  
“Come on. A party is what would make you feel better. And you promised!”

“Fine. Is that all?”

“Yeah! I’ll send you the address. Bye!” With that, he hangs up.

Ben later decides that going to a party with friends can’t make things worse.


End file.
